Computers, fax machines, printers and other electronic devices are routinely connected by communications cables to network equipment such as routers, switches, servers and the like. FIG. 1 illustrates the manner in which a computer 10 may be connected to a network device 30 (e.g., a network switch) using conventional communications plug/jack connections. As shown in FIG. 1, the computer 10 is connected by a patch cord 11 to a communications jack 20 that is mounted in a wall plate 18. The patch cord 11 comprises a communications cable 12 that contains a plurality of individual conductors (e.g., eight insulated copper wires) and first and second communications plugs 13, 14 that are attached to the respective ends of the cable 12. The first communications plug 13 is inserted into a plug aperture of a communications jack (not shown) that is provided in the computer 10, and the second communications plug 14 is inserted into a plug aperture 22 in the front side of the communications jack 20. The contacts or “blades” of the second communications plug 14 are exposed through the slots 15 on the top and front surfaces of the second communications plug 14 and mate with respective “jackwire” contacts of the communications jack 20. The blades of the first communications plug 13 similarly mate with respective jackwire contacts of the communications jack (not shown) that is provided in the computer 10.
The communications jack 20 includes a back-end wire connection assembly 24 that receives and holds insulated conductors from a cable 26. As shown in FIG. 1, each conductor of cable 26 is individually pressed into a respective one of a plurality of slots provided in the back-end wire connection assembly 24 to establish mechanical and electrical connection between each conductor of cable 26 and a respective one of a plurality of conductive paths (not shown in FIG. 1) through the communications jack 20. The other end of each conductor in cable 26 may be connected to, for example, the network device 30. The wall plate 18 is typically mounted on a wall (not shown) of a room of, for example, an office building, and the cable 26 typically runs through conduits in the walls and/or ceilings of the office building to a room in which the network device 30 is located. The patch cord 11, the communications jack 20 and the cable 26 provide a plurality of signal transmission paths over which information signals may be communicated between the computer 10 and the network device 30. It will be appreciated that typically one or more patch panels, along with additional communications cabling, would be included in the communications path between the cable 26 and the network device 30. However, for ease of description, in FIG. 1 the cable 26 is shown as being directly connected to the network device 30.
In the above-described communications system, the information signals that are transmitted between the computer 10 and the network device 30 are typically transmitted over a pair of conductors (hereinafter a “differential pair” or simply a “pair”) rather than over a single conductor. An information signal is transmitted over a differential pair by transmitting signals on each conductor of the pair that have equal magnitudes, but opposite phases, where the signals transmitted on the two conductors of the pair are selected such that the information signal is the voltage difference between the two transmitted signals. The use of differential signaling can greatly reduce the impact of noise on the information signal.
Various industry standards, such as the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard approved Jun. 20, 2002 by the Telecommunications Industry Association, have been promulgated that specify configurations, interfaces, performance levels and the like that help ensure that jacks, plugs and cables that are produced by different companies will all work together. By way of example, the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard is designed to ensure that plugs, jacks and cable segments that comply with the standard will provide certain minimum levels of performance for signals transmitted at frequencies of up to 250 MHz. Most of these industry standards specify that each jack, plug and cable segment in a communications system must include a total of eight conductors 1-8 that are arranged as four differential pairs of conductors. The industry standards specify that, in at least the connection region where the contacts (blades) of a plug mate with the jackwire contacts of the jack (referred to herein as the “plug-jack mating region”), the eight conductors are generally aligned in a row. As shown in FIG. 2, under the TIA/EIA 568 type B configuration (which is the most widely followed), conductors 4 and 5 comprise differential pair 1, conductors 1 and 2 comprise differential pair 2, conductors 3 and 6 comprise differential pair 3, and conductors 7 and 8 comprise differential pair 4.
Unfortunately, the industry-standardized configuration for the plug-jack mating region that is shown in FIG. 2, which was adopted many years ago, generates a type of noise known as “crosstalk.” As is known to those of skill in this art, “crosstalk” refers to unwanted signal energy that is induced onto the conductors of a first “victim” differential pair from a signal that is transmitted over a second “disturbing” differential pair. Various techniques have been developed for cancelling out the crosstalk that arises in industry standardized plugs and jacks. Many of these techniques involve providing crosstalk compensation circuits in each communications jack that introduce “compensating” crosstalk that cancels out much of the “offending” crosstalk that is introduced in the plug and the plug-jack mating region due to the industry-standardized plug-jack interface. In order to achieve high levels of crosstalk cancellation, the industry standards specify pre-defined ranges for the crosstalk that is injected between the four differential pairs in each communication plug, which allows each manufacturer to design the crosstalk compensation circuits in their communications jacks to cancel out these pre-defined amounts of crosstalk. Typically, the communications jacks use “multi-stage” crosstalk compensation circuits as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,358 to Adriaenssens et al. (hereinafter “the '358 patent”), as multi-stage crosstalk compensating schemes can provide significantly improved crosstalk cancellation, particularly at higher frequencies. The entire contents of the '358 patent are hereby incorporated herein by reference as if set forth fully herein.